Cardiff first with driverless taxi loop

Computer controlled driverless taxis, the first of their kind, could soon become a feature of Cardiff city centre and its regenerated docks under ground-breaking plans being considered by council leaders.

Trials of the futuristic battery driven vehicles are due to begin tomorrow on a specially built test track in Cardiff Bay as part of the proposed development of a £45m transport system for the Welsh capital.

The first phase of the project, comprising a 3.5km loop around the bay area, home to the National Assembly, could be in operation by 2004, the council said yesterday. Two further interconnected loops are planned, to link the bay to the city centre.

Councillors and the engineers behind the scheme say the system would be the first of its kind in the world.

Cardiff, which has already pioneered the use of computer based systems to give buses priority at traffic lights, is keen to introduce the new mode of transport because of the growing problems of traffic congestion. At present around 97% of journeys in the redeveloped Cardiff Bay area are by car. "This new system could be a way of getting people out of their cars, it's environmentally friendly, and it's another means of promoting public transport," said a council spokesman.

The initial phase will see the introduction of around 30 vehicles on the eight station Cardiff Bay loop. Around 160 vehicles are likely to be in ser vice when the full network is up and running.

Known as ULTra, the urban light transport system has been developed by Advanced Transport Systems, a company spun out of Bristol University seven years ago. The company is headed by aeronautical engineer Martin Lowson, professor of aeronautics at the university, who worked on the US moon landing programme.

The driverless vehicles, monitored from a central control system, will follow a series of magnets let into the surface of a dedicated guideway and will carry up to four people at a maximum speed of 25mph.

Passengers with smart cards will be able to hail the pod-like cabs at stations where magnetic readers will enable them to pre-programme their route to any other network station.